Apprentice
by oceayen
Summary: An immortal wizard wakes up in the middle of the night and finds a young man on his doorstep. "Before you vaporize me or something, my name is Ash, and I want to be your apprentice." {Ash/Cam}


**{Prologue}**

* * *

"Here you go." Cam handed a small pouch to the shorter man in front of him. "Just brew it like it's normal tea. It should help you sleep better."

"Thank you. I have no doubt this will work." He replied. Cam hoped it would, for the other male's sake. His costumer looked tired and weary. The bags under his eyes only emphasized his rather thick eyebrows and his skin was still fair alabaster, but now it was sickly. There was a certain forlornness in those green eyes that hadn't been there when the man had ordered a concoction that would make his cooking taste better last month.

He smiled. "Take care of yourself."

The man laughed, but it sounded hollow and humorless. "That bad, huh?"

"It is a bit obvious."

He just nodded. Cam wasn't surprised, and his curiosity wasn't strong enough for him to ask about the predicament at hand. This particular costumer didn't chit-chat about his life like a lot of his other costumers did, and he did exude a private sort of vibe. Cam wasn't sure if he would elaborate, even if asked. Besides, he wasn't much of a talker himself.

"I shall be off, then," he said after paying his bill. "Thanks again." Cam heard the tinkling of the door chimes at the same time the grandfather clock in the corner made a particularly loud tick. It was time to close up. Locking the door, he sighed in relief. Today had been particularly busy, and he was ready to toss himself into bed. But of course, life couldn't ever be that easy. Some people—or should he say, creatures—just weren't content to let him live life the way he wanted to.

The brown cat that often slept on the counter as he entertained his costumers rose from its—her slumber as she always did whenever he closed the shop. There were some rumors concerning her, seeing as Cam's line of work wasn't exactly a conventional one, but nothing was ever confirmed. Cam thought that was probably because no one in town except for her "owner" had ever seen her eyes before.

They were steel gray, with a bit of blue mixed in. The fact that the reflection you could see in them was upside down would have been enough for anyone to conclude that she wasn't a normal cat. But for Cam, it wasn't just that—despite the fact that her pupils were shaped into vertical slits like a real cat's, they were human.

Cam supposed it wouldn't make much sense for anyone else (because how could someone's eyes look like a cat's and a human's at the same time?) but to him it did, because his definition of "human" wasn't the usual one. For him, it wasn't really the physical characteristics that made humans, well, human. It was what was on the inside. Humans had something in their brains that made them what they were, and it was the most amazing thing. You could see it in their eyes. It was there, and you could see it when they looked at the world around them, or when they found something to be of their interest, or when they were thinking about something and the gears were turning in their heads. But most of all, you could see it whenever they felt something—not just the physical feelings that material stimuli elicited, because those were just feelings and not feelings, but the deep ones that came from the thing that made them human, like love and hate and compassion.

Sometimes this made him wonder about how human he really was, because Goddess knows he barely felt anything that mattered.

"Cam. Cam?" A flick on the forehead finally dragged him back to reality from where his mind had been wandering off to. "You're spacing out again. Jeez."

He blinked. The cat was gone and in its place, sitting on his beloved counter, was a girl around the age of seventeen or so. But Cam knew that the cat hadn't really disappeared, because the girl had the same blue-gray eyes that always seemed more human than he could imagine himself ever being. And she was a cat most of the time, for crying out loud!

"Get off the counter before it breaks under your weight, Lillian. You're not a cat anymore." He turned around and climbed up the steps. As always, the girl trailed behind him, her noisy footsteps in contrast with his soundless steps.

The upper floor wasn't very different from the shop below it except for the lack of merchandise and the presence a tiny kitchen, a circular table, and two neatly-made beds. The flooring was identical—polished, wooden planks that stretched from one end of the room to the other. So was the floral wallpaper. If some of the nosier folks in town thought that they would find something forbidden and scandalous in there, they were in for some disappointment. He wasn't saying that he didn't keep certain things in his living quarters, but they were simply too hard for most of his neighbors to find. After all, Cam would know if one of the Bluebell citizens was a fellow magic-wielder, unless they were very good at hiding at. He himself belonged into the very-good-at-hiding category. Well, that's what he thought anyway.

He was innocently walking in the direction of the beds when a tug at the back of his shirt made him stumble backwards. Turning around, he glared at the offender.

"Um, no." Lillian shook her head. "Do you want to die of starvation? I'm not letting you skip dinner again. It's been like, three days."

Cam knew by experience that the best answer was just to nod and go along with Lillian's plans. If she really wanted something, she would never stop unless she got it. If he disagreed, he'd just be setting himself up into an incredibly annoying night that would undoubtedly cost him his much-needed sleep. "Fine," he said resignedly as he sat on one of the table stools. "I'm going to conjure—"

"No way. I'll be cooking," she argued. "All the food you conjure always have this weird taste. It's like soap. Ick."

Cam frowned, ignoring her insult. It would delay him from his sleep, but he couldn't deny that it would be advantageous for both of them. Lillian was obviously itching for the chance to cook something, and he had been feeling really tired lately. Conjuring something would be tedious and lower his energy. He couldn't pinpoint a particular reason for his exhaustion, but it didn't make him too worried. It was probably just the sudden influx of costumers. "Fine," he repeated. "But only because you're annoying," he added quickly.

The girl smiled triumphantly and turned around. Cam watched her as she started taking the ingredients out while humming a tune that he didn't recognize. He couldn't remember when in the past hundred years he had started to consider Lillian not as a Anthropo demon he had a contract with, but as his sister. They were equals, she and him, and without her he would have fallen apart a long time ago.

When the contract expired, what would happen?

"Without me, you would have fallen apart a long time ago." She smirked as she placed the two dishes of Tom Yum Goong on the table. He chuckled upon realizing that she thought the same thing. A spoonful of his dish made him smile a little sadly. If demons weren't so ostracized, Lillian could be a famous chef.

They ate in comfortable silence. It was unusual, since Lillian often chattered nonstop—spending the day as a cat seemed to give her an urge to talk Cam's ear off—but he guessed it was one of those nights when she had something on her mind. Dinner ended quickly and soon enough, the plates were washed and Cam was in his nightclothes, thanking the Goddess that it was his day off tomorrow and he didn't have to do any brewing tonight.

* * *

"Cam? Hey! Wake up, you frog." Something firm smacked into his face. "Cam!"

Cam felt impossibly groggy, and he definitely wasn't up for a pillow fight in the middle of the night. "What in the world…?" he muttered. There was an ache in his temples that he recognized as the beginnings of a migraine.

"There's a person by the front door," Lillian hissed, looking just as bedraggled as he felt. Her shoulder-length brown hair stuck out in all directions and what looked like dried saliva on the corners of her mouth, but even in the darkness her eyes were clearly wide with excitement.

"Send them away. Business hours are over." Cam grumbled, rolling on his side.

"Cam!"

Goddess, his head hurt. "Why don't you get it, then?"

"Are you out of your mind? Jeez Cam, I knew you were sleep deprived, but I never knew it was this bad. I can't just let some random person know about my existence, you know."

He sat up and shot the girl the strongest glare he could muster, because as much as he hated to admit it, her words rang true. Lillian was clearly unaffected as she grabbed his hand and dragged him downstairs. "I doubt someone crazy enough to knock here on"—he glanced at the grandfather clock—"two in the morning can be simply classified as 'some random person.'"

"So you think I can actually talk to this person?" she asked, and the hope on her face was so evident that he had to look away. It made him want to slap society's face. If they weren't so judgmental about people who were different, or just looked different even, then maybe she could have a normal life. He always loathed himself a little bit more every time he remembered that he had to force her to hide, because he knew how much she wanted to go out and see the world. Lillian wasn't a force to hide; she was meant to be out there. But Cam couldn't let that happen if he wanted to keep her safe.

"Just let me open the door," he mumbled. Lillian obediently melted into the shadows, but he knew that she was watching.

The knob was cold, and through the now open door entered droplets of water.

In that moment, Cam realized three things: One, it was raining. Two, this situation was uncannily similar to the first time he met Lillian. Three, there was a trembling young man that he had never seen before on his doorstep.

"Before you vaporize me or something, my name is Ash, and I want to be your apprentice."

* * *

**{A/N}** I'm not sure if I should continue this or not. Or maybe I should, but for another pairing or fandom? (Maybe Witch/Wizard or Jack/Elsa.) It just crossed my mind one day and I was in a Cam/Ash mood so this happened. It's a bit confusing right now, but if I continue this, things will eventually clear up in the future. I usually write longer stuff but it's short right now since it's still the prologue. Feel free to point out any errors since I wasn't able to edit this before posting. (Also, can anyone guess the identity of the Cam's costumer? Hint: He's not from Harvest Moon. It's all in his description!)


End file.
